Turbine maker Nordex buys Acciona's wind power business

BERLIN (Reuters) - German wind turbine maker Nordex is buying the wind power business from Spain's Acciona SA for 785 million euros (£579.81 million) in cash and shares to create a global player in the wind energy market, it said on Sunday. "In combining their activities Nordex and Acciona Windpower will create a truly global company and in doing so reduce exposure to demand swings in individual markets," Nordex said in a statement. Nordex said the two firms are complementary, with Nordex strong in Europe and specialised in complex projects, while Acciona Windpower is focused on the Americas and emerging markets, primarily in large-scale wind farms. Nordex said it would pay Acciona 366.4 million euros in a one-off cash payment and the rest by issuing 16.1 million new Nordex shares, equivalent to 16.6 percent of its capital, at an issue price of 26 euros per share. Its shares closed at 24.955 euros on Friday. At the same time, Acciona is buying more existing shares in Nordex from Skion-Momentum, an investment vehicle belonging to the Quandt family, for 335 million euros. That will bring Acciona's total stake in the German firm to 29.9 percent once the transactions are complete. Nordex said it expected to complete the purchase, including the capital increase, by the first quarter of 2016. Acciona said that combining Nordex and its wind power business, which designs and manufactures turbines, would give the resulting company an estimated order backlog of about 2.8 gigawatt in 2015. Skion-Momentum, the Quandt vehicle, will retain a 5.7 percent stake in Hamburg-based Nordex. Acciona said it would make an estimated 675 million euros in capital gains from the sale of Acciona Windpower Nordex, in which Germany's richest woman Susanne Klatten holds a 22.8 percent stake, has been boosted by a mix of cost cuts and a surge in demand for wind energy, one of the cheapest and most efficient renewable energy technologies. (Reporting by Emma Thomasson in Berlin and Sarah White in Madrid; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)